Police: Soldier accidentally shot, wounded wife while cleaning gun in Anchorage then lied to protect career

Posted: April 19, 2011 - 9:39pm

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE — A soldier accidentally shot and wounded his wife while cleaning his gun then lied about the mishap out of fear it would harm his military career, police said.

The mishap occurred late Sunday in an apartment building in east Anchorage when Kyle Labrosse, 21, was cleaning his .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, police said.

The bullet hit his 20-year-old wife, Bailey, causing a flesh wound, then passed through the floor to the apartment below, the Anchorage Daily News reported Tuesday.

Anchorage police spokesman Dave Parker did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking further comment.

The Labrosses are both specialists in the 4th Airborne Brigade Team, 25th Infantry Division, said Chuck Canterbury, a spokesman for the Army in Alaska. Both are stationed at Fort Richardson. Canterbury did not immediately return calls.

Steve Brawn, 21, said he was sitting on his couch in the lower apartment, watching television and getting ready to go to bed. He heard the shot, looked up, spotted a hole in his ceiling and caught a glimpse of the bullet coming down.

“It had slowed down enough where I could kind of see it out of the corner of my eye,” he said.

The bullet landed on a chair about 6 feet from where he was sitting. A puff of drywall dust rose into the air.

Police spokeswoman Anita Shell said instead of calling police, Kyle Labrosse panicked and made up a story about him and his wife being victims of an attempted robbery while out looking at the stars. Labrosse eventually acknowledged what had actually happened, Shell said.

He was charged with third-degree assault and third-degree weapons misconduct, police said. His wife was treated at a hospital.

There was no phone listing for Labrosse in Anchorage and it was unclear if he was being held in jail or had obtained an attorney.